1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a backlite assembly for an automotive vehicle including a novel signaling system associated with the backlite.
2. Disclosure Information
Indirect lighting has been used by designers of signs and other devices for many years. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,759,782 discloses a sign including a flat glass plate having a design etched upon it and an incandescent electric bulb situated so as to transmit light into the edge of the glass pane. Light is then emitted from the design etched into the pane. A similar device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,499,688 in which an edge-illuminated glass body has inset colored indicia which are illuminated by a light bulb.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,596 discloses a deflector shield for an automobile in which edge illumination is used to highlight a design engraved upon the deflector shield.
Instrument panel designers have utilized edge illumination for lighting of individual instruments. Examples of such illumination are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,695,354; 3,162,375; and 4,321,655.
Automotive designers have utilized various schemes in efforts to produce front windshields affording more than the usual display of the area being approached by the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,807 discloses a windshield having a refractive area intended to redirect light emanating from a traffic signal so that the light impinges upon the driver's eyes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,350,599 and 3,317,906, on the other hand, disclose structures for providing a vehicle driver with a windshield display of his instruments.
The use of liquid crystal semiconductor devices to provide a windshield display is disclosed in French patent No. 2,250,324 and German patent No. 2,242,316. These displays are operatively associated with the vehicle's instruments. These systems are complicated inasmuch as they require the semiconductor device to be embedded in the windshield itself.
As previously noted, the present invention deals with a backlite for an automotive vehicle. This backlite may be used with both turn signals and a brakelight. An example of a backlite used with brakelights is shown i U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,141 in which discrete lenses and bulb devices are applied to both sides of the pane of glass or plastic itself. This design is, however, costly because it requires drilling holes through the lite and produces an unsightly result because the lenses are visible at all times. Moreover, the lenses themselves may block the view of the driver out of the backlite and will hence be undesirable.